How you know he loves you
by Granad
Summary: A collection of AtoRyo oneshots on how to know it's love
1. Who is the mommy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

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Two men in their late-twenties were walking in the park; one, tall with silver hair wearing an expensive dark suit, and the other a bit shorter with black hair in a black t-shirt and jeans. They did not hold hands; they did not speak. They just hurried along enveloped in an uncomfortable silence.

One of the children fell in the sand and started bawling. When it did not look like anyone would console him, the distinguished gentleman dashed off to his aid. He dusted off the boy and got him to start laughing in a matter of minutes. As he played with the boy, he tossed looks over his shoulder as if to say 'see?' to his companion.

0

"Keigo, I am just not good with children."

"I'll help take care of him."

"How will you do that with your hectic work schedule?"

"I'll take time off. I want us to have a child Ryoma."

"You really would take a break from work to raise a child?"

"Yes I would." Those blue eyes are so sincere.

0

Ryoma was trying to get their three year old son to stop crying. He could not for the life of him figure out what the boy wanted.

"You said _you'd_help Keigo!" he shouted to his lover who was shut in his study, working.

"Give me a minute," Keigo called back.

"You said that an hour ago!"

"I love you"

Keigo emerged more than thirty minutes later when the boy had finally gone to sleep. He smiled at his partner who threw him a dirty look before carrying the boy off to bed.

He was pouring himself a cup of coffee when Ryoma joined him in the kitchen. "I don't know what you were talking about –you are great with children."

"Don't even try to suck up to me"

Taking that as an invitation, he approached the dark haired man and pulled him into a snug embrace. "I love you so much."

"I'm still mad at you"

"You're supposed to say 'and I love you'," he chided

"And I love you and I'm still mad at you."


	2. Star Struck

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

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Echizen loved watching Rafael Nadal's matches. He was going to be the best so he might as well get to know the competition. He'd make his boyfriend sit through replays of Nadal matches for up to 7hours. After that he'd be so pumped up he'd drag his boyfriend off for a match.

If Echizen had his way, all their dates would be spent on the tennis court.

0

Atobe was in love with a tennis-freak. His boyfriend's happiness was important to him; so important that he put up with Nadal match marathons and tennis dates when he could be doing other more enjoyable things. He was in love with Echizen.

Atobe also knew Echizen loved him. Once during a 'torture session', he drew Echizen's attention away from the screen long enough to ask if the aspiring tennis champion was satisfied with him as a boyfriend.

"No one can compare to Nadal," Echizen teased and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Echizen had to love him, right?


	3. Hide and seek

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

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Keigo sighed in exasperation and turned to Ryoma who sat on one of the kitchen stools drinking tea. Ryoma had woken up unusually early for a Wednesday morning which was the first clue that something was amiss.

"Ryoma, where's my briefcase?" Said man's face broke out in a grin and Keigo's heart dropped to his feet. He had contracts to return to a client in that briefcase. "This is not a joke. Where is the case?"

"Look for it," Ryoma sang and Keigo began to do just that. "Cold," Ryoma called lazily when he went to search the living room. Calls of 'very cold' kept coming through the kitchen until he gave up and returned to the kitchen.

At the first cry of 'hot!',Keigo stopped in his tracks and turned a glare on his lover. Five minutes of looking around a spot that kept returning 'burning hot' from Ryoma and he threw in the towel. "Just get the damned thing –I'm late for work."

Ryoma climbed down from the stool an annoying smirk adorning his face, walked over and elbowed him away. To Keigo's horror, he then opened the dishwasher and pulled out the sleek black leather briefcase.

Keigo thought he would lose his mind and before that could happen he took the soaking wet briefcase from his lover and without a word, left for work. He heard sniggering as he slammed the door shut.

0

Ryoma had crawled back into bed for a little more sleep after Keigo left. The prank he'd played had left him feeling extremely happy. Laughing at the memory, he retrieved his phone from the bedside table and dialed Keigo's number wondering whether he'd pick.

When the dial tone stopped and all he heard was silence, he called his boyfriend's name unsurely.

"Yes Ryoma." Keigo's drawl was tinted with some residual anger and Ryoma almost burst out laughing. He held himself in check and asked the question of the day.

"Were your papers okay?" The beep signaling the end of the call was his response and he couldn't help but laugh.

0

Keigo sat in his favorite sofa watching Ryoma look for his tennis bag. The brat had a match with Sanada and he was getting him back for the stunt he'd pulled during the week even though they had already 'made up'. Ha! Like he would let a chance for payback pass him by that easily.

"Have you seen my bag?" Ryoma asked and Keigo smiled innocently. To his surprise though, Ryoma gave him a pitying look and headed straight for the sofa, jerking the bag from under it. Keigo frowned. He wasn't that bad at hiding things, was he?

With a chuckle, Ryoma came up to him and gave him a peck on the forehead. "That was almost original"


	4. Don't Snoop

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis**

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Echizen looked up from the small notebook he'd been leafing through, an amused smile pasted on his face. The door was pushed open and the owner of the humongous bed on which he lounged entered the room.

"You don't have to start staring as soon as I walk in," the deep voice drawled as the new arrival shut the door. "What's so funny?"

"You _like_ my new uniform," Echizen teased while snickering. "After all the awful things you said about it and it turns out you think it makes me look _cute_."

A disturbed look crossed the regal features of the Atobe heir as he stepped further into the room and for a moment Echizen thought it was embarrassment but was quickly disabused of that idea.

"Lord no! The color is wrong for your skin tone, the buttons are ghastly, and whoever came up with that design ought to be hanged!" After a pause, "What gave you the idea that I thought it made you look _cute?_" the last word was spoken with distaste and had Echizen been any less self-confident he might have doubted the older pompous teenager's feelings for him.

"You wrote it in your notebook," he accused waving the lavender book in the air.

"That's not mine"

"Yes it is," he accused again beginning to get irritated. "It's okay to admit you think I'm cute." It didn't occur to him that such a statement might be misunderstood.

"I do think you're cute," the older teen said with feeling, "but not in that hideous creation the students of Seishun High are expected to wear and you know I'd never lie to make you feel better."

"I get it. You don't have to be so mean," Echizen muttered sullenly, sitting up and leafing through the book again. "So whose is it?"

Atobe walked over and sat beside his boyfriend of 4 months, holding his hand out for the book. "Let me have a look." He flipped through the notebook for a few moments before tossing it on the bed. "That's not even my handwriting," he informed the teenager who'd been looking at him expectantly and reached out to brush green black locks away from Echizen's furrowed brow.

"This _is_ your handwriting," Echizen argued and swatted the hand away from his face. "It's all swirly and curly and girly – just like yours."

"It's not mine," Atobe snapped and pushed the book away. "Why would I refer to myself as Atobe-buchou?"

"I don't know," the younger teen said thoughtfully. "Maybe it's your new _thing_ – your delusions of grandeur have finally gone to your head." That earned him a glare which he rightly deserved since he'd admitted to being fascinated by Atobe's ego when he confessed. "What? You think you're royalty and they – argh – fine, it's not yours."

Atobe snatched the book from his hands and opened it to the first page and announced "It's Oshitari's."

"His name is not in there," Echizen told him and plastered himself against Atobe's side, peering into the book in case he'd missed it. Nope, there was no name.

"The way he writes the s," Atobe said absentmindedly and started reading what his good friend had written. The book was yanked out of his hands and thrown out the window by a green-looking Echizen. "What was written in there?" he asked suspiciously. The only answer he got was a hand clapped to Echizen's mouth as he scrambled off the bed and run to the bathroom.

Atobe remained seated on the bed, wondering what had been written in the book when he remembered something else Echizen had said. "My handwriting is not girly!"


	5. Prove it

**Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis**

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Echizen wondered not for the first time what had possessed him to accept the job charged to him by the Hyoutei High tennis club.

It was entirely his fault actually. He had saved up for his girlfriend's birthday present but he'd spent the money on a new racquet when one of his old ones broke. He'd been in a fix since his dad wouldn't loan him the money and no one would play him for money this close to the holidays.

He had attended Atobe's Christmas party with his girlfriend Sakuno at her insistence where he'd heard the Hyoutei tennis club members discussing something that got him thinking. It was a week before he approached the blue haired spectacled genius to proposition him.

They had managed to negotiate a deal that suited both of them perfectly. All he had to do was get evidence that Atobe Keigo was gay and he'd have enough money to buy Sakuno the necklace she'd had her eye on for months.

"What are you doing here?" the heir asked as he joined Echizen in the foyer.

"I brought you something –can we go to your room?" he asked nervously drawing suspicious looks from both the butler and the teenager he had come to see.

"This had better be worth my time," Atobe said flippantly and led the way up a winding flight of stairs and turned off the right at the second floor landing. He held the door to his room open for his guest who darted in like he didn't want to be seen.

"Nice room," Echizen said conversationally though his eyes didn't stray very far from the large bed on one side of the room.

"You're acting strange," Atobe accused as he took a seat at his desk where he'd been working before he was interrupted by his unexpected guest. "What did you want to show me?"

"Well," Echizen started with a cough and turned to his host, "I can't really do what I came to do so I'll just ask straight out –are you gay?"

Blue eyes regarded him for a long minute before an amused smile pulled at dark sensuous lips. "What had you come to do exactly?" Atobe asked.

"I- I was – I was supposed to sed-" he stuttered to a stop when Atobe burst out laughing.

"You were going to seduce me?" the older teen asked knowingly. "You should have worn something a little more revealing for one –like those shorts you wear at matches." Atobe looked at him thoughtfully and eased out of his seat. "Actually," he started as he advanced on Echizen, "you should have asked me to a match –that would have done the trick."

"What?"

"I like my men covered in sweat with their clothes sticking to their bodies –that's why I play tennis," Atobe confessed blandly. "If you'll excuse me, I have some work to finish."

Echizen mechanically turned and left the heir to whatever he was doing.

0

"How did you get this information?" Oshitari asked with a hard glint in his eyes. It was very difficult for Echizen to keep still under such an intimidating stare especially since he had just told a lie. "You didn't seduce him did you?"

He shook his head and looked off to the side.

"This means that he saw through you and anything he said cannot be trusted. You have to do it again or no deal," Oshitari concluded.

"I got the information you wanted –straight out of the monkey's mouth so pay up," he growled angrily. No way was he going to seduce Atobe. He had a girlfriend and he suddenly found the Hyoutei regular a little creepy.

0

"You bought that expensive necklace," Sakuno said with a lot less enthusiasm than he had expected.

"Don't you like it?" he asked, a touch irritated that she was being ungrateful.

"I do," she said sadly and looked at the necklace with soulful eyes before shutting the box and pushing it back along the table towards him. "I know you didn't have the money to buy it since you bought that racquet –your dad told me." Her eyes betrayed how hurt she was when she met his eyes. "You slept with Atobe didn't you?"

"What?"

"Tomo-chan told me that the Hyoutei regulars were going to pay you to seduce Atobe and since you bought the necklace, it has to be true."

"You think I slept with Atobe?" he asked incredulously

"Didn't you?"

"That you think I would do that makes me question your trust in me which in turn makes me question our relationship. I guess I will be returning this," he said and snatched up the box, placing money on the table and leaving his now ex-girlfriend at the table they'd just shared.

0

At the next Hyoutei – Seishun game, Echizen shuddered the moment his eyes met Atobe's. The older teen pulled him away from his teammates and led him to a secluded spot a few meters away for a chat.

"Did you really believe that I play tennis so I can ogle boys?" the blue eyed teen asked incredulously. "There would have been some sign of 'excitement' if it was even slightly true."

"Oh" It only occurred to Echizen when he thought about it in those terms. "Why did you say all that then?"

"I didn't want to make you even more uncomfortable than you already were."

"Thanks," Echizen mumbled and rejoined his teammates to wait for his turn on the court.

0

It was more than five years later after a friendly match with Atobe that he asked the question that had been plaguing him. "Hey Atobe –you were in love with me back in high school weren't you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You were nice to me when I failed to seduce you which was plain weird." He met the other man's contemplative gaze and waited for an answer.

"Let's just say I liked you a lot"

"And now?"

"That's a secret"

He looked at the other man for a long time and decided it would be futile trying to pull the truth out of him. "Was the shorts and sweat thing true?"

"I wonder about that," he smirked


End file.
